Qlik’s APAC SVP on sponsorship, challenging bias, and building inclusive tech teams

Maurizio Garavello shares how leaders can drive real inclusion by sponsoring talent, challenging bias in hiring, and ensuring women have a voice in leadership.

Diversity and inclusion efforts can’t stop at hiring. True equity comes from ensuring women are not only present in the workforce but actively contributing, advancing, and leading.

As a male tech leader, Maurizio Garavello, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific at Qlik, believes that gender equity isn’t just a conversation for women—it’s a business imperative that requires action from all leaders.

With years of experience building high-performance teams across global markets, Maurizio has seen firsthand how intentional sponsorship, tackling unconscious bias, and daily advocacy can shift company cultures from passive inclusion to real change.

As part of ADAPT’s International Women’s Day 2025 celebration, we spoke with Maurizio about mentorship, bias in hiring, and the responsibility male leaders have in driving DEI forward.

Hiring isn’t enough—women need real opportunities

Bringing women into an organisation is just the beginning—the real challenge is ensuring they are heard, valued, and meaningfully contributing.

Maurizio shared a personal story about his mother’s career in banking, where she and a female colleague were among the first women hired at a major Italian bank. But for two years, they had no real work assigned.

“They were not even allocated a job to do—at one point, they fell asleep in the afternoon because they had nothing to do. Really, right? And that’s not great. It was a great salary, stable work, but that’s not fulfilling. That’s not bringing value to the business or to the people.”

His takeaway? Hiring without inclusion is meaningless. Leaders must create workplaces where women are set up for success, given important projects, and positioned for leadership.

Sponsorship means actively creating opportunities

Maurizio believes that sponsorship is even more important than mentorship.

While mentorship offers guidance, sponsorship is about taking real action to elevate talent.

“If you have someone in the team, you need to bring them in. Leaders have a responsibility to call on people, ask for contributions, and make sure every voice is heard.”​

He shared a recent example of how he introduced a family member studying AI to Qlik’s education team—not as a favour, but because she was exceptionally talented.

He sees sponsorship as a leader’s responsibility to recognise and amplify top talent, ensuring that women get the visibility and opportunities they deserve.

Unconscious bias and the hiring challenge

One of the biggest barriers to equity is unconscious bias—the hidden assumptions that shape decision-making.

Maurizio sees hiring as a critical area where bias often creeps in.

“One of the great advantages I have is I operate in an environment where the names don’t always indicate gender. That helps. Maybe that’s the solution for all of us—when looking at a CV, it’s not about the name, it’s about what that professional has done in their career.”

At Qlik, a diversity scorecard ensures representation is actively measured, making sure women are considered at every hiring stage.

He emphasised that diversity does not mean lowering standards—it means widening the talent pool and ensuring companies don’t overlook qualified women.

Men must challenge bias when they see it

Advancing women in leadership isn’t just women’s work—male leaders must challenge bias when they see it.

Maurizio recalled a situation where a hiring manager dismissed a highly qualified female candidate with an outdated excuse:

“I once heard someone say, ‘Customers won’t buy from a woman.’ Well, that woman is now Vice President of APAC at a major enterprise. She didn’t let outdated assumptions define her career—and neither should we.”

This, he says, is exactly why men in leadership must speak up, challenge stereotypes, and push back against bias that limits women’s careers.

What needs to change in 2025?

Maurizio believes that companies need to shift the conversation from identity to professionalism.

“I treat people as professionals. When we shift the conversation from ‘is this a man or a woman?’ to simply recognising great professionals, that’s when we’ll be in a better place.”

He believes that real change will come when inclusion is embedded in workplace culture—not just tracked in diversity reports.

That requires daily action, consistent advocacy, and leadership accountability.